Lasting impressions from first impressions
by Sea Queen - JoKessho
Summary: AU. Medieval-kind of setting. Yamato-the concubine of a Count-catches the eye of Taichi, who will do anything to save the blond from the clutches of the Count. Taito TaiYama Complete
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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TaiYama Week, Prompt 1: First impressions

It seems that this is some kind of medieval AU... -.-

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The first time I saw him, I thought he was a woman. Of course, he was wearing a layered, green dress, so it's not like I would have thought anything different. Anyway, we were at the Count's midsummer party and, for some reason, he really caught my eye. It may have been his blond hair—a rare trait in these parts—that was short in the front, but long at the back. Or the way he looked so uncomfortable—I would be, too, if I had to wear a dress in public—as if trying to blend into the wall. Or his eyes—the deepest blue I had ever seen—that never left the floor. Whatever it was, I had gone over and asked him to dance.

At first, he had been shocked and hesitated. My heart had sunk at the thought of him saying 'no.' However, his gaze had met mine and he had nodded. I took his hand and led him to the ballroom floor, where we danced for almost an hour.

Then, just like that, he had been torn away from me; the Count, himself, had called out a single name—a command: "Yamato." And the blond beauty had left abruptly, never looking back.

Why am I bringing this up now, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the market place? Well, my friends, he's right in front of me. Yes, the very same blond beauty that I met two weeks ago. The same blond beauty that I thought I would never see again. The same blond beauty that was now standing before me as a man. The very same one. I could tell from the shock in his deep blue eyes; it was the same shocked look that he had had when I asked him to dance.

Well, fuck.

He clearly recognised me, too. Though his reaction to our re-encounter was almost the exact opposite of mine: he tried to run.

I caught his wrist just as he was turning away from me, "Yamato!" Subconsciously, I used the same command that the Count had. His face showed even more shock at me knowing his name. Then, however, fear took over and his eyes flickered from side to side, as if looking for something. I let him search in peace, never loosening my hold on his wrist. Those lapis orbs found my chocolate ones again, and he tugged me away from the main street and into a narrow, deserted alley.

"What?" His voice was deep and had a musical quality to it. It really was no wonder that he hadn't said anything at the party. "What?" He repeated and I realised that I was completely stumped by that question. I didn't know what I wanted from him, or why I had stopped him.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, but that made them more fascinating, in my opinion.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble already?" He asked, harsher than before.

"What?" I looked at him, baffled. "What did I do?"

He gave me an exasperated look, "At the party." At my raised eyebrows, he rolled his eyes, checked the alley entrance, and pulled up one side of his beige tunic. My eyes widened at the mark on his side: it was the Count's emblem. The light fabric of the tunic fell back down, blocking the symbol from my sight. "He branded me." Yamato stated, face neutral. The statement was unnecessary, though, since I could tell. "He wants everyone, especially you, to know that I belong to him."

My eyes widened at him. "You're his concubine!" I practically yelled.

His eyes flew to the alley entrance again, before returning to me, narrowed, "Say that a bit louder next time, why don't you?"

At least I had the decency to look sheepish, "Sorry, I was just a bit surprised, that's all."

He crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at the ground on his right. "Yeah, well..." He trailed off, clearly unsure of how to continue.

I studied his face, eyes, and posture. He was sad. It didn't show much on the outside, but I could read it in his eyes. He was no happier with his fate than I was.

Courage and resolve had always been my best traits and I put them both to use now. "I'll take you away from him." His head snapped up, eyes wide. "I'll take you away from this town. I'll take you wherever, as long as it's not back to the Count's castle. I won't let him hurt you anymore."

A stunned silence followed my statement. Then he burst out laughing. I just stood there, confused.

He calmed down after a minute, wiping at his eyes. "Right." Then his look hardened. "Do you honestly think that I haven't tried escaping? He always finds me. Once, I made it all the way past the walls and into the forest, but he still found me. He always finds me."

Another silence followed, broken by Yamato turning away from me. "It's pointless."

"Wait." I grabbed his wrist again, but his back was still to me. "I promise it will be different this time. _I_ will keep you safe."

His demeanour changed to one of defeat. My heart soared; he was willing to leave this town with me. We could escape together, start our lives somewhere else, live happily ever after!

All these happy thoughts left me, though, as he turned around and I met his saddened eyes. He gave a small, sad smile, shaking his head. "It's too late; you've already broken that promise."

I was stunned for a second, before realisation fell upon me in the form of the Count's guards. They came rushing into the alley and tore Yamato away from my grasp, pulling him back towards his prison, leaving me standing in the darkening alley. He cast a last, lingering look my way, before they pulled him around the corner.

Then it hit me: he had been trying to escape. He had not been let out of the castle—he had escaped. And I had blocked his path.

My knees gave out and I fell to the ground, pounding away at the dirt. I didn't even realise that I was crying, until the ground became slightly wet, making the dirt stick to my knuckles. I stopped then, just sitting there, numb to all around me.

I don't even know why I was so adamant about making him mine. There was just something about him. The moment I saw him, I knew. And I know he knew, too; for why else would he have agreed to dance when he knew he wasn't allowed?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Don't ask me why it turned out so depressing... I might continue it for tomorrow's prompt, or then I'll write separate fics for each prompt and continue some of them later.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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A/N: Yay, the continuation of my TaiYama-week-medieval-AU fic!

Great, I managed to write over 1 000 words, then re-read the first chapter and realised that it was written in first person... Now to go back and edit this... (Of course, that means that I will actually proofread this chapter)

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"Taichi, this doesn't seem like a very good idea…"

"It's the best idea in the world, Sora!"

The redhead pursed her lips and frowned at me. "I just don't think you're being very rational about this whole thing. I mean, he's a concubine, for goodness' sake! He's practically trash and you don't even know him!"

I stood abruptly, slamming both of my hands onto the table, glaring at the woman sitting across from me. "He's not trash and I won't have you talking about him like that! I love him and I _will_ save him from the Count."

Angered, Sora also stood from her chair. "How can you say you love him, when you've hardly spoken to him? You don't know anything about that whore!"

My hands balled into fists, clenching at my sides. "If you weren't a woman and my best friend, I would punch you right now." I told her, through gritted teeth.

Sora crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Look," She started, "even if you manage to get him away from the Count, where would you take him? He won't be coming here, that's for sure! I won't allow him under _my_ roof!"

" _Our_ roof, Sora. This house doesn't just belong to you, in case you've forgotten."

"The others won't agree to it, either. You'll be putting us all in danger, if you bring that scum here."

"Then I'll leave. I'll save him and we'll leave this town together."

Sora hesitated for a fraction of a second. "You can't leave." She stated. "You can't leave us; we're a family. We all need each other to survive!"

"No," I frowned, " _you_ need _me_." Then, I turned, heading out of the dining area. "I only need Yamato." With that, I was gone, leaving Sora to stare after me.

-o-

"Taichi?"

I turned to give the short male a bored look. "Did Sora send you up here? Because whatever it is you have to say—especially if it has anything to do with Yamato—I don't want to hear it."

The rusty-haired male took in a sharp breath, "So it's true, then?"

I turned my chocolate-coloured eyes upwards, leaning on the windowsill, and regarded the night sky. I had come up to the South tower after the fight with Sora.

My group of friends and I shared a large mansion on the outskirts of the town. The house had been abandoned almost eight years ago, when an epidemic had swept across the town. The former owners—a noble family—had fled in fear when their servant family—Sora's family—had fallen victim to the disease.

Sora and my families had been close friends all our lives, so, naturally, my parents had tried to cure her parents—to no avail. All my parents got for their efforts was contagion. First, the disease took away my younger sister, then, it took both my parents' lives. Thus, both Sora and I had become orphans at the age of 13.

We had taken over the house, recruiting other orphaned children; first had been Jyou and his two elder brothers—Shin and Shuu. All three had a background in medicine and healing, which had proven to be very useful. Next had been Mimi—an extroverted, baker's daughter. Meiko had come third—a shy girl with horrible allergies. At first, I had thought her quite useless, but Mimi had taken Meiko under her wing and made her useful in the kitchen. Last, was Koushiro—son of a military strategist—he was clever and very resourceful.

Currently, the clever young man had his eyes trained on me, scrutinising. "It really is true, isn't it?" He repeated. "That you're in love with this concubine."

"Yes."

"Have you honestly thought this through? Logically? Rationally?"

I let out a breath, still looking out at the stars. "Love doesn't have to be logical or rational, Kou."

"No, but this isn't just about the emotion; this is about your life! Chances are that you're going to get killed—both of you. In addition, you might be putting all of our lives in danger."

I closed my eyes, blocking the twinkling lights from view. I hung my head, no longer wanting to go through these same arguments. "I know." I said after a long pause. "I don't want to put you all in danger, which is why I've decided to take him away from here. I won't be bringing him here; you'll never have to see him."

" _I_ would be interested to at least _see_ this exotic being that has stolen your heart." Came a sing-song voice from the staircase.

"Mimi." I said in astonishment, blinking at the brunette.

"I don't care what everyone else is saying. I'll help you save your damsel from the clutches of the evil king!"

"Mimi," Koushiro started, unimpressed, "first off, it's the Count, and, secondly, he's not a damsel, but a concubine."

The cheerful woman clapped her hands together, grinning excitedly. "That's even more romantic: a forbidden love and potentially-fatal rescue missions!"

"I don't like the sound of 'potentially-fatal...'" Came a new voice.

"Jyou!" Mimi exclaimed, "Are you going to join us on our rescue mission?"

"I thought I just said that I don't like the sound of it..." The long-haired bluenet let out a sigh. "But I guess, if Taichi insists on saving this man, then I have no choice but to help him to the best of my ability."

"Yay!" Mimi clapped her hands, like an excited seel.

I smiled gently, gratefully. "Thank you, Jyou. Mimi." I gave a nod to each of them in turn.

The brunette beamed, whilst Jyou pushed up his glasses in embarrassment.

The shortest male in the group heaved a sigh. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, either, huh?"

I smirked at him. "Of course you have a choice, but you _want_ to help me, right?"

Koushiro grinned, "I must have a death-wish, but I'm in!"

We—the members of the rescue-team—all beamed at each other.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

The smiles fell off everyone's faces simultaneously and they all gaped at me.

"What do you mean, 'what's the plan?' Don't you have one?" Koushiro asked, incredulous.

Sheepishly, I shrugged. "Not really. I just have a goal, but the plan is up for discussion." I looked around the astonished faces of my teammates. "Well, I have some ideas, but I don't know anything about the Count's castle, or where Yamato is being kept, or what kind of security they have over there, or anything, really."

"So you need me to find out all these things?" Koushiro asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes, please." I replied with a grin. "Unless, of course, Yamato manages to escape again and I run into him on the streets."

"I would imagine that the chances of that happening again are slim to none." Jyou informed me, readjusting his glasses yet again.

I had already told them of the blond wonder that I had met at the party over two weeks ago. I had also informed them of meeting him again yesterday, at the marketplace. No one had thought much of it—except Sora. She had cornered me this morning and demanded to know whether I was in love with him. Obviously, I had informed her that I was. We had had our argument, and then she had apparently gone round and told everyone to stop me from saving him. Well—as it turns out—the others were on my side, so fuck her.

Then again, Sora would be useful for the rescue mission; she was an excellent fighter. Hmm, maybe I could convince her to help me out... It was worth a shot.

"Well," I clapped my hands together, to get everyone's attention. "there's not much we can do right now, but let's all think about possibilities and, Koushiro, try to find out anything you can about the Count's castle, ok?"

Everyone nodded, leaving me in the tower. I gave the stars one last look, and, with a sigh, turned, intent on heading down to find Sora. Only, I never even had to take a step—she was there.

"Sora." Her name was more of an inhale, rather than an actual word.

She smiled at me, sadly. "Taichi."

We stood in silence for a few minutes, before she took three definite strides and joined me at the window. She rested her arms on the sill and looked down. "Are you all seriously going to go through with this?"

I mimicked her position, though my gaze was aimed upwards. "Yes."

"Then I'll help."

My eyes widened, flying to hers.

"W-what?"

She looked at me in a motherly fashion. "I'm going to help you, Taichi." Her mahogany eyes returned to the ground far below us. "I can see that you won't be swayed. And now you've managed to drag our whole family into this."

She always referred to our group of friends as a 'family.' I suppose we were, in a way; Sora was the mother-figure, whilst Shin had taken over the role of the father. I was practically Sora's little brother—being a few months younger than her, and being the goofball of the group. The others filled different roles—brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, cousins—whatever was needed at the time.

"I'm sorry I pushed you," She continued. "I just worry that you'll regret this decision. I'm also afraid." I continued staring at her, wondering where this change of heart had come from. "I'm afraid that something bad will happen to you, or to someone else. I've already lost so many loved ones; I don't want to lose you, too."

Finally, she looked back at me, and I could see the unshed tears in her eyes. I moved over to hug her and she let her tears fall.

"I'm sorry, Sora. I hate fighting with you and I hate making you worry, but I can't give up on Yamato. I love him. I know that I don't know him, but I just _know_. And I know that he feels the same; I can tell."

Sora gave a wet chuckle, bringing her face away from my chest, smiling at me through her tears. "That's a lot of knowing."

I chuckled, too, wiping away her tears with my thumb. "Yeah, it is."

We remained like that, in each other's embrace for a few minutes. Sora was the first to pull away.

"He's welcome to hide here, you know."

I kissed the top of her head.

"But you won't be able to remain here—neither of you." Sora looked at me with pained eyes. I felt a pang in my heart; I was going to hurt her. Me leaving would mean that she would lose another loved one. "Stay here for a few days, to throw the guards off, and then leave. Get as far from here as possible and never return. Don't tell us where you're heading, and don't let us know you're safe. Just go. And take good care of Yamato. And be happy."

Tears prickled at my own eyes and I hugged her. She was the strongest woman I had ever met. I hoped with all my heart that, one day, she would be able to have a family of her own and be happy.

-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Hmmm, another depressing chapter... Well, we shall have to wait and see what the next one is like


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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A/N: Sorry for the long wait... This fic is actually turning into a longer one and I don't have a plot, so it's a bit difficult to figure out which direction to take it in.

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"You're coming with us."

"Huh?" Was my less than intelligent reply to the guard that had spoken.

He didn't bother repeating himself, nor did any of the others say anything. The one that had spoken grabbed my upper arm and started dragging me away from the marketplace.

I had come out to scout out the marketplace and plan a specific stage of our rescue mission. We had been planning it for a week and had quite a good plan formulated. It wasn't perfect yet, and we would need at least another week to perfect it, but—for once—I wasn't rushing. The mission had to be perfect, so that we could free Yamato for good from the Count's grasp.

Speaking of the Count... I looked up at the large stone walls and iron gate of the Count's castle.

I was expecting the guards to take me directly to the Count, but apparently they had other plans. We entered the castle and headed—not into a grand hall or an office—but down. The stone steps were long and straight.

Upon realising that we were headed for the dungeons, the cells, possibly a torture chamber—my feet hesitated. The guard didn't miss a beat, however, only tugging harder on my arm, jerking me forwards.

I didn't know what to do; I hadn't struggled or fought against the guard, knowing that I was outnumbered and that it would be futile. Should I surprise them and make a break for it? Would it actually work? Probably not.

Once we made it to the bottom of the long staircase, we took a left. One of the others walked past us and around another corner, disappearing from our sight. I did, however, hear the sound of a key turning in a lock and a heavy, iron door opening.

We rounded the same corner and I saw a cell. My new home.

I was shoved in less-than-politely, the door slamming shut behind me. I turned around, going up to the bars, grabbing hold of them.

"Wait!" I demanded. The guards ignored me. "Tell me why you brought me here!"

I was left alone.

Huffing in annoyance, I went to sit against the cold stonewall in the back. I pulled my knees up, rested my chin on them, and glared at the cold stone corridor.

I knew that my being here had something to do with Yamato. There was no other explanation: I hadn't stolen anything, or robbed anyone, or hurt, or killed. Well, it's not like the Count cared about those kinds of things, anyway.

But what was that 'something'? Had Yamato said something about me? Was the Count just late about punishing me for dancing with Yamato at the party? Did they think I had been trying to help Yamato escape that time at the marketplace? Had they caught wind of my plans to steal Yamato away?

I looked around the empty dungeon and sighed; there was nothing to do and no one to talk to. I guess I would just have to entertain myself until the guards came back.

Breaking out seemed impossible.

-o-o-o-

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the sound of a key turning and the heavy iron door opening woke me up. I yawned, languidly stretching out any kinks—only to be jerked up roughly.

"He—" My yell was cut off by a hand over my mouth.

"Keep quiet, idiot." A deep—familiar—voice shushed.

My eyes widened, staring into familiar blues.

Yamato uncovered my mouth, pulling me out of the cell with silent urgency.

"Yama..." I followed, stunned. "What...?"

"Quiet, I said." He was pulling me up the long stone staircase, moving fast, yet carefully. We reached the top step. He peered around the hall before urging me along, to the other side of it and pushed me under a small table. I watched as he pulled some kind of folded fabric from under his shirt. He threw it over the table and I realised it was a table cloth—one large enough to reach the floor. Clever.

Yamato peered under the cloth, "Stay here. Stay quiet. Don't move or do anything, until I come get you. Got it?" I nodded. "Good." Then he was gone.

I have no idea how long I spent under that table, listening to the sounds around me. It was probably the middle of the night, judging by the lack of people. I could, however, hear one set of footsteps approaching. They were too heavy to be Yamato's and my heart jumped into my throat. I gulped—too loudly? The footsteps stopped, not too far from my hiding place. Shit! I tried to calm my heart, which was making too much noise, in my opinion.

"What do you think you're doing here?" I jumped at the strange voice, almost banging my head on the underside of the table.

"What's it to you what the Count wants of me at night?" Yamato's cool voice replied.

I let out a long breath—silently, mind you. The stranger didn't know I was there; he had been talking to Yamato.

Grumbling something under his breath, the stranger turned around and left the hall. Silence reigned for a few minutes. Then Yamato startled me again by popping his head under the cloth again. This time, I really did jump into the underside of the table.

"Ouch..." I mumbled, rubbing the soreness away.

Yamato's blue eyes narrowed at me, as he grabbed my forearm. "Idiot, be quiet. And come on; we need to move."

The blond male was pulling me in the opposite direction of where the guards had brought me in from. I trusted him and followed. He led me to the laundry area, which was empty, save for the drying sheets and clothes.

Yamato gave my arm a gentle tug, moving—very slowly—towards the back. To a door.

He stopped and turned to me, hand on the doorknob. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were sad. "You have to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I say."

"Of course." I said, dumbly. Why wouldn't I?

He shook his head, making his golden locks sway from side-to-side. I had a momentary urge to touch them. "I mean it, Taichi." He gave me a pointed look. "From here, you need to be quick. Run as fast as you can, to the wall. Stay low. Do not make noise. Once you reach the w—"

"Wait." My eyes burned into his. "What do you mean 'you'? We're leaving together." He shook his head again and I got angry. "Yes we are. I am _not_ leaving you. We are going to get out of here together."

"No."

"Yes."

"Taichi—"

"Yama." This time, I gave him a pointed look. "We _are_ getting out of here together."

"Leaving are we?"

Both Yamato and my eyes widened and I spun around. I came face-to-face with the Count, himself.

He was a few inches taller than Yamato or I—both of us being about the same height—and quite handsome. His hair and eyes were dark, but not quite black. His shoulders were broad and he had a goatee. He was dressed in an expensive-looking, thick, silk robe.

Yamato pulled on my arm, moving himself in front of me, shielding me from the Count.

"Please let him go. He hasn't done anything." Yamato's voice—so cool, calm, and collected in the past—held a tremble and was just above a whisper. "Please, Master." I hated to hear him beg.

"Yamato," The Count's voice held as much authority as his stance and his head was tilted back, enabling him to look down at Yamato. "This man has touched something that does not belong to him. He needs to be punished."

"Don't!" Yamato released my arm, opening both of his own at his sides. "Please. It's not his fault; he didn't do anything. _I'm_ the one to blame. _I'm_ the one that seduced him. I tricked him into helping me. Please let him go and I will never have anything to do with him again." They were all lies.

The Count chuckled; apparently he didn't believe the blond man, either. "You know I can't just let him go. That would not be good for my image. He needs to be punished."

In one swift motion, Yamato was in the Count's personal space, gripping the front of the noble robes. " _Please_. I'll do anything. Anything at all. Just, please, let him go and forget this whole incident."

A finely sculpted dark eyebrow rose. "Oh, but it wasn't just one incident, was it, Yamato? It was many."

"Please!"

I snapped: I couldn't let my Yama keep begging like this. "Drop it, Yama." I stepped up, pulling the blond away, and glared at the older man. "Go ahead and punish me." Yamato made a sound of protest, but I squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "But know this:" I drew myself up to my full height and was pleased to note that the Count was now less than an inch taller. "I will not take the punishment lying down. I will fight you every step of the way. I will do whatever it takes to escape. And I will take Yamato away from you."

The room was bathed in silence.

Then the Count let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! I'd like to see you try. Didn't put up much of a fight coming here, did you?" He had me there. "And you had better know this:" He leaned forward and I could feel his breath on my face. "No matter where you go, I will find you. Even if you and that whore managed to escape, I would find you." He straightened again. "In fact, sometimes I let him escape; I enjoy the chase." His eyes flickered to Yamato, then back to me. I didn't like the look in those dark orbs. "Tell you what; I'll let you both escape." My eyes widened and I heard Yamato draw in a sharp breath of air. The Count smirked, moving past us, to the door, and pushing it open. "Go ahead and leave. I will give you half a day's head start. My men will begin the chase tomorrow at noon. Make the most of what time you have." With that, he left.

I looked to Yamato and he was staring back at me. We were both in shock. What was going on?

-o-o-o-o-o-


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-o-o-

A/N: So sorry for the long wait; I haven't had a chance to write much recently...

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yamato was fast to react to The Count's offer. He, yet again, grabbed my hand, pulling me out into the night. The air was clammy and still, as if the Earth was holding her breath, willing us to escape safely.

Yamato pulled me along at lightning speed, knowing exactly where to go: which bush to duck behind, which statues to evade, which hole in the looming brick wall to dash to.

"You first." He said to me, pushing me forward and onto my knees.

"No way!" I stood abruptly, shoving him to the ground and towards the hole. "I told you that I am _not_ leaving you—and I don't trust you to follow. I'll follow you no matter where you lead me."

Blue eyes narrowed, glaring up at me. "We don't have time to argue about this!" He hissed.

I kneeled next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and nudging him towards the small gap. "All the more reason for you to go already; you know that I have no intention of staying here."

With a sigh, he crawled through the opening. I followed close behind. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, which I hadn't been expecting; Yamato had made it look easy, being slightly skinnier than me.

Yamato grabbed my bicep before I had even managed to squeeze through the gap fully, and pulled me up. His hand lowered to mine and we ran again. We were heading for the main gates, which would take us out of the town. I dug my heels into the ground, jerking him into a halt by a large tree.

He glared at me, but I opened my mouth before he had a chance to.

"I know I said that I would follow you, but I changed my mind." His blue eyes widened incredibly. I squeezed his hand tighter. "I promised to keep you safe, and leaving the city will only get us caught. Come home with me." He looked sceptical. I pulled his hand to my chest, hugging it with both of mine. "My friends and I had it all planned out: you are going to stay with us for a few days—just long enough for the guards to lose our scent—and then we will leave this town for good."

Yamato jerked his hand out of my grasp, looking scared. He was slowly backing away from me, shaking his head near-imperceptibly. "Taichi..."

I took confident strides back into his personal space. "Trust me, Yamato; I will keep you safe and you will never have to return to the Count." I took his face into my hands, stroking his cheeks. "I promise."

He pulled away from me again, shaking his head, a sad look in his cobalt orbs. "That's not what this is about. I can't ask you to do all that."

"You're not asking me—I've already decided this."

"But Taichi, don't you see?" Desperation shone on his face, like he was begging me to understand. "I can't ask you to leave your friends and family; you have a life here and I don't want to be the one to tear you away from it!"

I cocked my head to the left, "I told you that this is something that I've already decided. I've spoken to my friends—I don't have any real family left—and they gave their blessings. It's all been planned and decided."

The blond man before me looked distraught. "Taichi... You can't do this. What if we don't last? What if we're not meant to spend the rest of our lives together? We know nothing about each other. Who's to say that we will want to live together once we find out more about the other? This can't work, Taichi. It's best to forget the whole 'plan' that you have."

My eyes narrowed. "We are not giving up now. I know that we're meant to be together. I don't know how I know, but I can _feel_ it—and I _know_ that you can feel it, too." Yamato opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "Don't try to deny it; I know you know that we're meant to last. I don't care about your past—I only care about spending the rest of my life with you."

He contemplated me silently for a good minute.

"Taichi... You may not care about my past, but I care about yours—you have a good life here. You have friends. I have nothing. I really don't want to make you miserable. This is something that you might end up regretting, and you'll have to live with that regret for the rest of your life, and it will all be my fault. I don't want that. And you don't want that." He paused, casting his gaze down. "I will return to the Count and you should return home."

I grabbed his shoulder roughly, giving him an angry shake. "Do you realise that I will be killed if I stay in this town?"

"I'll convince the Count to leave you alone."

"I don't want that!" I gave him another shake. "I will not let you return to that bastard! I _will_ keep you safe and we will escape together."

"Ta—" I cut off his protest by shoving him against the large tree we had stopped near, kissing him. He tried to protest, but I stubbornly continued to assault his mouth. He relented, kissing me back, gripping the back of my shirt. My hands were in his silky hair—probably tugging a bit more aggressively than necessary, but I didn't care; I needed to prove to him that we should stay together. I needed to vent, and Yamato's mouth seemed like a good outlet.

We continued out make-out session in the empty street for a few minutes, pulling back only when we were slightly lightheaded from lack of oxygen. I stepped half a step back, bringing my hands from golden hair to slight shoulders, studying Yamato. His face was flushed, mouth gasping for air, eyes glazed. He looked fucking hot.

"I want to fuck you."

My eyes widened; I hadn't meant to say that out loud. His eyes flew to mine, before shooting to the ground in embarrassment.

"Ok."

"What?" Had I heard that right?

"I said 'ok.'"

I openly stared at him, and his face—which had started returning to its paleness—flushed again.

"I can see that you won't be swayed, so..." He shrugged, clearly not wanting to finish that sentence.

I grinned like the cat that got the cream. "So we might as well head over to mine and fuck?"

He flushed a darker red, but lifted his gaze again and glared at me. "I'm a concubine, remember? I'm not supposed to say 'no.'"

Still grinning, my hand dropped from his shoulder to his crotch. His body gave an involuntary jolt and I moved closer to his ear. "Are concubines usually aroused?" As my grip intensified, so did his arousal.

"Stop it!" He hissed at me. I could feel his head moving, probably checking our surroundings. "What if someone sees us? Let's just go!"

I chuckled, trapping him between my body and the tree again. "No one's around and we have time."

"Taichi!"

His blue eyes scrunched shut and white teeth gnawed on his pink bottom lip, as my hand continued to massage his erection. For someone so skinny, he had a surprisingly strong grip on my biceps.

He let out a strangled sound, leaning his head against the tree. I took my chance to attack his neck with my teeth, lips, and tongue.

"Ah!" His left hand released my bicep, shooting to cover his mouth. Grinning into the hickey I was creating, I brought my free hand up, to pull his pale one away from his mouth, threading our fingers together.

"Don't hold back." I whispered, moving to the other side of his neck, and nibbling on his collarbone. My hand moved up to the waistband of his harem trousers, before dipping back down under them. He wasn't wearing underwear.

Yamato's hips bucked into my hand, as I made contact with his hard member. My hand moved from the tip of his dick to the base, using his pre-cum as lubricant.

"T-Taichi." Yamato leaned heavily into the tree. I could feel his knees shaking next to mine. It made me wonder whether anyone had ever pleasured him before. I have no idea what he was doing before becoming the Count's concubine, but I doubt it was anything like this. Oh well, all the more reason for me to continue.

My lips moved from his collarbone to his lips, kissing him fervently, as my hand's pace increased. Eagerly, I swallowed each of Yamato's mewls and moans, feeding my passion. My own trousers were getting uncomfortably tight, but I was too focussed on Yamato to really care.

Yamato tore away from my lips, throwing his head back with a near-scream as he came. My hips jerked in response, covering my crotch with a warm wetness.

It took Yamato a good few minutes to come down from his high, but I savoured every second of that time—hungrily drinking in the sight of the sexed-up blond. He was panting hard, and, as he tiredly opened his eyes, I could see they were glazed over. As the seconds ticked by, his eyes cleared at the same pace as his face reddened. I grinned at him, and he looked down in embarrassment.

He cleared his throat. "We should get going..."

"We should." I agreed, casting a glance at the lightening sky; the sun wouldn't show himself for a while yet, but his outermost rays were starting to banish the darkness. We had to get home before anyone saw us; the townspeople wouldn't hesitate to sell information of our whereabouts to the Count's guards.

With the choice made, I tightened my grip on Yamato's hand—had I not let go of it at all after uncovering his mouth?—and started moving. His feet responded immediately and were surprisingly steady.

We walked in silence, until I broke it. "See that large building up ahead?" I glanced to my right, catching the nod of the blond head. "That's my place. Home, sweet home."

"Um.." I looked at him again, but he was looking at the ground. "Will any of your friends be awake at this time?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Someone might, as I disappeared very suddenly."

"How are we going to explain the state of our trousers, if someone is up?"

I let out a laugh. "I don't think we need to explain anything—whoever happens to be up will get it without explanation."

"That's the point!"

I laughed again, ignoring the death-glare I was getting. "It's fine—no one will care."

"But I don't want their first impression of me to be that I'm a slut. You've probably already told them about me being a concubine, but I don't exactly want to remind them—unless that's all you—"

"Yamato!" I was mad. How dare he even think that sex is all I want him for? That sex is the reason I saved him?

I pulled him into an embrace, mumbling into his sweat-soaked hair: "I never want you to even think that, ok? You mean so much more than that to me. I know we don't really know each other, but—like I said before—I just know. I really care about you, Yamato."

"Taichi."

I gave him a last squeeze, before pulling away and kissing him. "I think I'm in love with you."

His eyes widened, but before he could form a coherent sentence, a female voice called out to me.

"Taichi, you're ok! God, we were so worried! Where have you been?"

Yamato and I turned to look at the redhead racing towards us. She was still yelling at me—a mixture of rage and relief.

She stopped about five metres from us, taking a good look at my companion. Her eyebrows shot into her hairline, whilst her jaw dropped. "Is that Yamato?!"

I grinned at the blond, who looked completely shocked. "Yep." I turned to the young woman, re-grabbing Yamato's pale hand. "Sora, meet Yamato. And Yamato, this is Sora, she's like my older sister and mother in the same package."

Yamato stepped forward, releasing my hand, and taking her offered one, kissing the back of it, as was customary. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sora."

"Likewise." Sora's eyes held a gentle affection. "We've all heard so much about you from Taichi—it's like I already know you." She turned around. "Please come in. We weren't exactly expecting you, but you're more than welcome in our humble home."

"Thank you, I hope I won't cause you and everyone else too much trouble."

Sora just threw a smile over her shoulder, before leading the way inside.

-o-o-o-o-o-


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-o-o-

A/N: God, it's been ages since my last update, huh? Very sorry for the delay in getting this out!

Not too sure about this chapter, but I'll roll with it, since you've all been waiting so patiently for it.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As soon as we entered the house, I started pulling Yamato along a corridor on our left, heading for my room. I yelled to Sora over my shoulder, telling her not to let anyone else know I was back. She just grinned at me and winked. I rolled my eyes at her perverted assumption.

I opened the door to my room, seeing it had been left untouched in my absence. Yamato's blue eyes scanned the room curiously, probably trying to see if he could get a better idea of my character from the contents of my room. Not that my room flattered me much... Put bluntly, if I owned more stuff, the room would look like a disaster zone.

Bits of paper littered the floor, along with a few pieces of clothing, and a worn-out ball that I kicked around when I was bored. I always made an attempt at making the bed, but it usually just meant throwing the duvet carelessly over the whole double bed.

Yamato's scanning eyes landed on mine, and he blushed, looking away quickly.

"Sorry."

I shook my head at his apology, striding over to my bed and flopping down onto it, on my back. "Feel free to snoop around; you'll be living here for a while, so it's now your room, too."

"Right." Yamato nodded, but I could tell he was avoiding looking around the room again. Instead, he looked at me, fidgeting, still by the door.

"Well?" I enquired. "Aren't you going to join me?"

"Oh." Was all Yamato said as he scurried to the bed, climbing into it, and sitting on his knees with his eyes and hands on his lap.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, cocking my head at the blond. The reddening of his face told me that he could sense my gaze.

"Yama? What's wrong?"

He squirmed for a second, before looking at me with determination. "What do you want?" At my confused look, he clarified: "From me." I was still confused, and he rolled his eyes. "What kind of service would you like?"

My eyes widened at him and my jaw fell slack. I spent a few good moments just gaping at him, whilst he waited patiently for my answer.

"What?!" I finally managed.

He crawled forward, so that his arms were straddling me. "What, shy?"

"Wha—no!" Gently, I pushed him back. He looked confused. "Yamato—" I stopped, unsure of how to phrase my thoughts. "Wh—how cou—we're sleeping!"

This time Yamato cocked his head at me. "Just sleeping? You don't want me to pay you back for what you did to me at the tree?"

"No! That's not how relationships work! Are you not familiar with the concept of a healthy, loving, caring relationship?"

Well, at the very least, Yamato did look abashed.

I was appalled. "How can you have gotten through life without knowing what a proper relationship is about? How long have you been the Count's concubine?"

Yamato had returned to his earlier kneeling position, looking at his fidgeting hands in his lap. "Quite a while. Ten years, maybe? Maybe more; I'm not entirely sure anymore..."

"But before that, you lived with your parents, right? They must have had a healthy relationship."

I was not prepared for Yamato's hollow laugh.

"My parents hated each other. I only saw my father every few years, since he was a travelling merchant. My mother was a prostitute. I was a mistake."

He paused—maybe to let it sink in, maybe to collect his thoughts. I stayed silent.

"Whenever my father came back to the town, he would visit the brothel my mother and I lived at. They would spend their few hours together arguing about what to do with me; my father couldn't take me, since it would be bad for business, and my mother didn't want me. Apparently the only reason I was allowed to live was that my mother couldn't get away with killing me; the brothel was very strict about babies' bodies lying around." Yamato's eyes were glazed over, like he was lost in the past. "As soon as I was physically able to, I was told to keep the place clean; all the prostitutes' sons were responsible for cleaning and maintenance. The daughters became prostitutes, themselves."

I was disgusted by the story, but too transfixed by Yamato's deep, monotonously hollow voice to stop him. Besides, I wanted to hear this.

"It was pure luck that the Count saw me; I was sweeping in the front yard, when his carriage passed by. He'd been visiting the Count of my town, and, on the way out of town, he had to go past the brothel. At the time, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that a carriage had stopped outside the main gate, and a rich man got out. I thought it was a customer, so I ignored him. Customers weren't any of my business—except this one. He bought me from the owner of the brothel." He paused, then chuckled humourlessly. "I bet my mother was pleased when she heard."

"You never got to say goodbye to her?"

Yamato shook his head. My heart broke. Sure, they may not have had a good relationship, but—in my opinion—a mother is always a mother. Or then I was just biased, since I had loved my mother dearly and she had loved me back.

Yamato had fallen silent, and I wasn't saying anything either. Suddenly, he seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in and gave me a small smile. "Sorry, you must be tired, right? I'll let you get to sleep."

He started moving, as if trying to leave the bed, but I grabbed his wrist. "Where are you going? You need to sleep, too."

His blue eyes blinked at me. "That's what I'm doing."

"I don't have a guest-bed; we need to share."

"No, no, no, I can sleep on the floor."

"You are not sleeping on the floor like a slave. Or dog. Or anything else that sleeps on the floor. _My_ partner will share _my_ bed. So get under the covers with me." To emphasise my point, I pulled him towards the headboard, off the covers, lifting them, and snuggling underneath the white duvet.

I closed my eyes. It had been a long night. "Good night—or morning—whatever. Hopefully we can get a few hours of sleep before the others undoubtedly find out we're here."

All was still and quiet for a few minutes, and I was just starting to drift off, when I felt Yamato's hand caressing my stomach.

"Stop it." I mumbled. He didn't. Instead, his hand went under my shirt, sending shivers throughout my body from the skin-to-skin contact. "Yamato... We need to sleep."

"Sorry." He stopped.

With a sigh, I let myself drift back towards dreamland. Only to be brought back to the conscious world by Yamato's wandering hands.

"Stop it."

He did. Only to start again a minute later.

Exasperated, I sat up, glaring at the blond next to me. "Will you please just sleep? We can do stuff later, but I honestly have no energy for anything right now."

"Sorry, sorry. I'll try to stop."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Try?"

Yamato looked off to the side, clearly embarrassed by his actions. "I don't really know why I keep doing it—it's like a habit; I don't even think about it, but my hands just move. I guess it's the bed." He turned his eyes back to me. "If you just let me sleep on the flo—"

"No." I lay back down, pulling him to me and trapping his arms at his sides with a hug. "We are going to change your bedroom habits. Starting with sleeping in bed with me. You will sleep next to me, in bed, and that's final."

"I'm sorry, Master; I promise I'll be better." Yamato's reply was automatic, and that caused me to spring up to sitting and stare at him, aghast—and slightly insulted.

"Did you just...?"

Blue eyes widened, and, whilst panic and fear shone in them brightly, they were also slightly glazed over again.

I suddenly realised the extent of the damage the Count had inflicted. I had noticed Yamato's demeanour change as soon as we entered my room, but I'd just put it down to the initial shyness that all couples have when seeing the other's room for the first time.

This behaviour wasn't shyness—it was subordinance.

As soon as Yamato had entered the bedroom, he had changed and become subservient. It was a habit that had been ingrained into him. All those years in the Count's bedroom—in other bedrooms across the castle—Yamato had been forced to submit to the Count's wishes; disobedience was not acceptable. He had been put through the same routines over and over for years, until they were ingrained into him and became automatic. He became a concubine every time he entered a bedroom.

As I watched him shrinking further into the bed, I felt my chest tighten. I had to fix him. He was perfect to me, but I could not accept this kind of submission.

"Yamato..." I reached out towards his face, as slowly and gently as I could. He flinched, but made no other move to get away. I stroked his cheek with the backs of my fingers, so that my arm wasn't crossing his face and making him feel trapped.

It took a few long minutes, but finally his eyes started clearing and he seemed to snap out of his autopilot state.

"Taichi?"

I started chuckling. "Damn, you really do need a lot of saving, don't you?" I said, thinking back to Mimi's comment a few days back.

Yamato frowned at me. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Still chuckling, I smoothed back his fringe. "I'm saving you from the Count and these stupid habits you've developed."

The blond huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking away. "It's not my fault."

"I never said it was."

His eyes snapped to me, and a gentle smile graced his features, which he quickly covered with: "How about we get that sleep you've been going on about?"

Grinning, I flopped back down next to him, throwing an arm across his chest. "Turn around." He did, letting me spoon him. I smiled into his neck, breathing a sigh of relief at finally being able to sleep. A second later, I had sprung up again. "Wait a sec..."

Yamato turned his upper body around, giving me a confused look.

"Have you ever had sex willingly?"

His eyes widened, blinking rapidly. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean," I shifted, staring him down. "Have you ever wanted to have sex? Have you slept with anyone besides the Count?"

"No...?"

"..to which question?"

"Both? Any? All?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. What kind of question is that, anyway?"

I let myself fall back down next to him. I was pretty sure the answer was 'no' to all questions.

"Just so you know, we're not having sex until you want it."

"But what if you want it?"

"Doesn't matter. We won't be doing anything without your consent."

"But that's not fair."

"That's exactly what fair is."

"Taichi, that's not how it works."

"Yamato, that's exactly how it works."

"But—"

"I don't want any more excuses; I want to sleep, and you need to sleep, too."

He was frowning at me. "Taichi, I'm a concubine!"

"No," I said, glaring back at him. "You're my lover."

That shut him up, and I was finally able to fall asleep, spooning my lover.

-o-o-o-o-o-


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-o-o-

A/N: Man, it's been like half a year since I updated this fic… Sorry! This chapter was a real struggle to write and it's probably kind of pointless, but at least I'm updating. I have a semi-formed plan for this fic, and will start wrapping it up soon.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yamato and I managed a few hours of sleep, until we were rudely awoken by an overly excited Mimi. She had knocked once, before barging into the room and jumping onto the bed.

"Taichi!" The brunette glomped me. "You're back! I knew it!"

"Ugh. Hi, Mimi."

"I'm sorry, Taichi." Came Sora's voice from the doorway. "Apparently I was too calm for you to not be back."

I grinned at the redhead. "That's fine." The grin fell as I turned my attention back to the woman on my bed. "Mimi, leave him alone; he's shy."

Yamato had been mostly hiding under the duvet, but, at my remark, he pulled the blanket below his chin. He opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Mimi's squeal.

"Oh my God! You're Yamato!" Her large honey eyes turned to me. "You managed to get him out of there? How?" She turned her attention back to the blond. "Oh my God!"

By this time, Koushiro and Jyou had joined Sora at the door. All three were looking amused, though Koushiro was the first to sober up with:

"Taichi, that was really dangerous. Why didn't you tell us that you had a plan and were planning on executing it?"

"Well," I hedged, scratching the back of my head. Everyone, save Yamato, was looking at me questioningly. "I didn't have a plan—you all know that. The Count's guards actually abducted me."

Mimi gasped, Sora's hand flew to her mouth, and Jyou's eyes widened.

Koushiro's dark eyes narrowed. "That was even more dangerous; you could have been killed."

My eyes narrowed to match his. "I told you I didn't plan for it; they grabbed me and took me to the castle. Yamato got me out of there."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yamato cast me a glance, but my attention was on Koushiro, who threw the blond a suspicious look. I glared at my old friend.

"Hey," I said dangerously, and Koushiro's dark eyes turned to me. "Yamato had nothing to do with it, so stop that train of thought right now."

"I'm just covering all the bases."

"Well don't cover that one. It's not even a base."

Koushiro shrugged. "It's just a bit suspicious that you got out of there so easily…"

"We didn't." Yamato surprised everyone by speaking.

I blinked at him and he gave me a meaningful look.

"That's right;" I said, snapping out of my surprise, and turning to Koushiro. "The Count himself caught us as we were escaping."

"What?" Sora's voice came out a lot higher than usual.

Koushiro titled his head to the side. "How did you get out of that one, then?"

I frowned, thinking back to the man. "He's toying with us." My frown deepened as that thought truly sunk in. It was just a game to him; a twisted game of cat and mouse.

Probably sensing my sour thoughts, Yamato moved his leg slightly under the blankets to touch mine. I threw him a grateful half-smile. Our little exchange went unnoticed by everyone, as Meiko had chosen that moment to join us.

"Um, excuse me, but breakfast is ready."

"Excellent!" I said, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

"Let's go!" Mimi said as she jumped off the bed. She hesitated before turning back to the bed and Yamato. "I'm Mimi, by the way. I forgot to introduce myself earlier. Those three are Sora, Jyou, and Koushiro, and that's Meiko." She listed, pointing everyone out.

Yamato nodded at each name, giving the room full of people a shy smile. Then his eyes flew to mine, and I extended my hand to him with a smile of my own. He took my hand, but held fast, though the others were filing out of my bedroom.

"Yamato?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

He threw a nervous glance at the now-empty doorway, before turning his blue eyes back to me. "Don't you think we should at least get changed before we join them?"

"Oh, right." I said, having completely forgotten the state of our trousers.

I honestly don't think anyone would notice or care, but it was clearly important to Yamato, so I turned to my wardrobe. After digging around for a bit, I tossed him a set of fresher clothes, pulling some out for myself, too.

Casually, I dropped my drawers and stepped into new ones. My shirt was next, and the change was just as quick. I turned around expecting Yamato to be changing, too, but found him staring at the clothes with a red face. Grinning, I headed for the door.

"I'll wait for you out here."

Yamato emerged from the room about a minute later and I was very glad that we were about the same size; he looked good in my clothes.

-o-

After breakfast, Yamato and I returned to my—our—room. Yamato flopped face-first onto the bed once we entered. We were still pretty tired from last night, and meeting so many new people must have tired Yamato out even more. I knew my friends could be rowdy, especially Mimi, so it was perfectly understandable.

I chuckled lightly at the blond, who threw a glare at me in response before burying his face back into the mattress. His—dare I say it?—playful mannerism made me unbelievably happy: he was comfortable with me.

"Hey," I said, flopping down next to him, but propping my upper body up on my elbows. "What did Sora want?" She had pulled him aside for a few minutes after breakfast, to talk in whispered voices. Meiko had forced me to help her clear the table—probably a conspiracy—so I hadn't been able to listen in to the conversation.

"Oh." Yamato answered, pulling his face up from the softness of the mattress. "Not much; she just wanted to talk to me for a bit."

"About?"

He shrugged a shoulder, crawling towards the pillows. "Nothing much."

"Yamato…" I whined at him, crawling closer to him and the pillows. For added effect, I poked his side.

Yamato gave me a playful glare and swatted my poking hand away. "What does it matter what we talked about? I'm not badgering you about everything you've spoken to her about, so why are you doing it to me?"

My head perked up at this and I gave him a sly look. "Are you jealous of her?"

He snorted and turned onto his back, staring up at me. "Of course not; I can tell that there's nothing between you two." His eyes flickered away for a brief moment, before returning to me with a mischievous look. "She's way out of your league, anyway."

I stuck my tongue out at him, but then smirked. "Sora and I have slept together, you know."

Yamato gave me a dirty look. "Wow, you really are selfish, aren't you?"

My smirk turned to confusion. "Did Sora say that?"

"She may have mentioned it…"

I looked away with a frown. She had said as much to me before, but I liked to think that I'd become a better person since then. Had I really not matured at all?

"Hey." Without me noticing, Yamato had half-sat up and he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "She didn't mean it like that… She also said quite a few good things about you, and that she can see that we're meant to be."

I leaned in and gave Yamato a quick peck on the lips. "I knew she would be able to see it."

Yamato smiled, but it was quickly replaced by a sad look. He sat up fully and looked down at me. "Will you really be able to leave her? Leave everyone?"

I, too, sat up and reached over, to brush some of his fringe out of his eyes. "We've been through this already, Yama." He let out a sigh, which I echoed. "To be honest, I'm not happy about having to leave everything and everyone behind, but I have to. I'll be killed if I stay in this town."

Yamato closed his eyes, shoulders tense. "I wish I could go back and change things."

I sat up slowly, contemplating that. If I could go back in time, would I change things? Would I not talk to Yamato, not ask him to dance? Would I not pull him into that alleyway? Would I not cry over losing him? Would I just forget about him? _Could_ I just forget about him?

Could I give up the one person that makes me somehow feel whole?

"No." I said quietly.

"What?" Yamato asked, surprised.

I held his gaze for a while. "Would you really change things?"

His eyes searched mine for a minute. I have no idea what he was looking for or thinking, but after the minute, he leaned in and kissed me deeply.

"I should." He whispered as he pulled away. "But I wouldn't and I don't think I could."

I had closed my eyes for the kiss and kept them close, letting a smile grace my face. However, it fell at his next words.

"I'm sorry; I guess I'm the selfish one."

I pulled him into a tight embrace, mumbling into his hair: "No, you're just in love. With me. Which, of course, I can fully understand, since I'm the most amazing and best-looking guy in the world."

He chuckled and I grinned, glad that I had been able to make him smile again. I didn't mind him possibly thinking that I was conceited, just so long as I got him to smile.

-o-o-o-o-o-


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Also nicked some lines from Daughtry.

-o-o-o-

A/N: An update that didn't take half a year! Thanks for all the reviews; they really encourage me to keep writing!

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Taichi! Yamato!"

The door to my room burst open again, and in came a frantic Sora. She had startled us so badly that we had both shot up into sitting position from our slumber. Seriously, couldn't we get more than a few hours of sleep before being rudely awoken by one of my crazy female friends?

"Quickly!" Sora was at our bedside, yanking on my arm. "The Count's guards are here, and they'll be searching the whole house!"

My eyes widened and I looked into Yamato's equally wide blue orbs. We shot out of bed, Sora pulling on my wrist, me pulling on Yamato's.

Sora led the way to the dining room, intent on hiding me and Yamato in the bomb shelter. Her grandfather had had it built ages ago, when the town was in danger of being attacked by the neighbouring ones. The threat of war was long gone, but the well-hidden shelter had remained. I would have forgotten its existence had Sora not brought it up when we were planning Yamato's rescue. She and Koushiro had figured that the guards would come looking here; they were bound to do their research and find out where I lived. I had never been more grateful for their strategic thinking.

Sora fiddled with the latch in the corner of the room, where it was hidden from anyone that didn't know it was there.

"Go!" She shoved us in as soon as she had the door open wide enough for us. She closed the door without another word, plunging Yamato and me into darkness.

After about a minute of sitting silently in the dark, I started fumbling around. I was trying to be as quiet as possible, least I give away our location. It was pointless, as the room was soundproof, but it made me feel less anxious if I kept the noise to a minimum.

At last I found the candles and accompanying matches we had placed into the room. I lit the two candles, bringing some light to the darkness.

The orange glow of the small flames fell upon Yamato. His eyes held fear and sadness.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, just barely loud enough for me to catch it. "This is all my fault; I've done nothing but cause you and your friends trouble. I'm sorry."

"Yamato," I reached for his hand, placing my palm over his fist. "If anything, this is my fault. But I won't apologise; I wouldn't change anything, not if it meant giving you up."

"I wouldn't change things either. But I can't not apologise."

I let the topic drop.

We were quiet for a while, trying to pick up any noise from the outside. Obviously it was futile.

I watched Yamato staring at the small flame of one of the candles. He seemed completely entranced by it. Of course, it was quite hypnotising to watch fire dance, so I, too, started to stare at the same flame. We spent a few minutes like that, in silence, but my mind had started wandering, and I glanced at the blond.

"Um…"

He didn't look up, the flame still holding his gaze.

"You know, it started bothering me…" I hedged, biting my lip lightly, whilst his eyes flew up, blinking rapidly. "Why did you think that I was selfish for sleeping with Sora?"

He blinked a few more times, probably trying to get rid of the lingering image of the flame.

"It just made it sound like you were using her; like there were no feelings involved. It shouldn't be like that for the two of you. For someone like me, sex is jus sex. It doesn't matter who you do it with. But you two are close, and have been close for ages, from what I can tell. If you wanted her, then you should have taken the time to form a proper relationship with her."

I thought about that for a bit before replying. "Well, there weren't feelings involved, really..." His eyebrows shot up. "We had both lost our families and were just looking for comfort. The only feelings were sorrow and grief. We just both used each other, but we spoke about it before and after, and we're fine with that." I grinned at him. "She was being just as selfish as I was."

"I guess…" Yamato said slowly, looking down. His eyes didn't stay down for long, though, as he lifted them to look me in the eye. "I'm sorry for accusing you of being selfish."

"It's okay." I assured him, but added: "I was, though, with you at the tree last night—this morning, whatever. And I'm sorry."

"It's—" He shook his head, dropping his gaze once again to his lap. "It's okay; it's not like I didn't enjoy it…" He finished his sentence with a mumble and blush.

I smiled, deciding not to put him on the spot and let yet another subject drop. I did still feel guilty for what I did, but, to be fair, I hadn't had any action for the longest time, so… Not that I was trying to pin all the blame on my hormones and pent up frustration. Just some of it.

"Wait a sec!" I turned to him, realising something we had spoken about earlier. "I thought you didn't know anything about normal relationships."

"It's not like I don't know about them." He rolled his eyes, but then blushed lightly. "I just never really believed in them. I never knew any two people who would be able to care for each other like that. But now, with Sora and all your other friends, I can see that having a loving, caring relationship is possible. It exists."

It seemed like he was talking more to himself than to me, so I kept quiet, letting him mull over his own thoughts.

His eyes suddenly shot to mine. "Do you think we'll ever be able to come back?" He whispered.

I dropped my gaze, contemplating this; I had thought about it briefly, but had shoved the thoughts away in fear of the answer being no. I could feel his eyes searching my face, looking for any clues as to what I was thinking. I didn't want him to feel bad about tearing me away from home forever, but what else could I say? We could never return; it just wasn't feasible.

I was forced to look up when he placed a hand over mine.

"Someone is bound to kill the Count sooner or later, Taichi. We can come back when he's gone."

I wanted to believe him; I really did, but…

"Taichi?"

I had dropped my gaze again, looking at our hands instead of his eyes. I turned my hand over, my fingers playing with his. He was leaning forward, trying to catch my eye again. I refused to look at him.

His free hand came up to my cheek. I was expecting it to force my face upward, to look into those deep blues. Instead, he moved his thumb gently back and forth, not demanding anything from me.

It was true that the Count had lots of enemies. There were plenty of people out there who wanted him dead. Of course, this had been the case for years, and no one had finished him off yet… Would anyone? Probably not. Yamato and I would forever have to keep low, least the Count catch wind of our whereabouts. The Count was the type of man to bear a grudge. For life.

I was startled out of my musings by Yamato withdrawing both his hands. They went to cover his face, and I heard and saw him take a deep, unsteady breath. He held it for a few seconds, before letting it rattle out of his mouth. He was trying to hold back tears.

I wanted to move forward and comfort him, but I didn't know how. I couldn't make false promises, and telling the truth would hurt.

At least…

"At least we'll have each other."

He drew in a sharp breath, letting his hands slide down his face and fall to his lap. His eyes remained closed, pushing back the tears.

"Yeah." He choked out. "Yeah we will."

I smiled, moving forward, minding the candles, and pulled him into a hug.

"I can't promise that things will be okay. I can't promise that someone will kill him. I can't promise that we will be able to return one day. But as long as it's with you, I'm okay with whatever the future holds."

"Thank you, Taichi." He mumbled into my chest. "And I'm sorry for being so depressed about this. It's just that… I—no matter what you say, I don't feel that I'm worth you losing everything. I'm just scared that, one day, you'll realise that I'm not worth it all and that you'll start hating me for it. Or worse: lie to me and tell me you're fine with it all."

"We'll make it through." I said, petting his soft hair.

"I thought you weren't going to make promises you can't keep."

"There's nothing else that we can do. Is there?"

He pulled back and looked up at me, eyes almost dry. A small smile made its way onto his face.

"I suppose not."

I grinned, pulling him back to me, whilst his arms wound tightly around my torso. We stayed like that for an indefinable amount of time, until the door started opening.

Yamato and I blinked rapidly at the brightness. Thankfully Sora and Koushiro's forms blocked the worst of the glare, and our eyes adjusted quickly.

"They're gone." Sora announced with a grin.

"They left a while ago, but we wanted to make sure they weren't coming back right away, before letting you two out."

"Good thinking." I grinned at the shorter male, standing and offering my hand to Yamato. "Come on, up you get." He grabbed my hand and I hauled him to his feet. We left the room hand-in-hand.

"Koushiro reckons that it's safe for you two to stay here for a few more days, up to a week."

"The guards seem satisfied that you're not here, so they probably won't be looking here anymore."

"Excellent!"

"Are you sure?"

Yamato and I had spoken at the same time. His eyes were on Koushiro, mine were on him. I couldn't read his face; it wasn't exactly blank, but there was nothing there, at the same time.

"I mean, are you sure about me—us—staying here? That it's okay?" He clarified.

I remembered Koushiro's initial weariness of Yamato, and looked at the strategist. He eyed Yamato critically before smiling.

"It's perfectly fine; you're more than welcome to stay with us for a while longer."

Yamato smiled back his thanks.

"What time is it?" I asked Sora, hoping it was dinner time.

Sora smiled knowingly. "Mimi and Meiko are almost done with the food, so go get washed up, and then come back."

"Yes ma'am!" I saluted, marching off and dragging Yamato with me.

When we returned the food was out, as promised, and we took our seats.

"Thanks for the meal!" Echoed around the table as everyone dug in. Well, everyone except Yamato; he was staring at his plate, looking uncertain.

I nudged him, and he looked up at everyone.

"Um." Everyone's attention turned to him. "I just wanted to apologise for causing you all so much trouble." He gave a quick, apologetic head-bow. "It's my fault the guards invaded your house, and I'm sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it!" Mimi was the first to accept the apology. "It was actually quite fun to lead those guards around on a wild goose chase."

Koushiro hid his smile behind a forkful of food and I made note to ask them what, exactly, they had done whilst Yamato and I had been trapped.

Sora chuckled, nodding along. "It really wasn't a bother at all, so don't worry."

Yamato nodded and started eating. Everyone else followed suit.

-o-o-o-o-o-


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-o-o-

A/N: This will be the last chapter. I thank all of you that have stuck with this story and been patient with my sporadic updates. I started this fic for TaiYama week 2016 and I'm completing it for TaiYama week 2017. Oh, if only the contents of this fic were as brilliant as the timing… Kidding, the timing means that it took me over a year. Anyway, will probably eventually someday go back and edit this fic, but this is it for now!

 **NOTE:** Check that you've read the previous chapter! FFN gave me an error when I uploaded it, so everyone might not have gotten a notification about it.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The week that Yamato and I stayed at my old home was nothing short of bittersweet. Mimi was trying her best to keep a cheerful attitude. Sora was playing along, hiding how she really felt. Koushiro was coming up with increasingly obscure plans that would enable us to stay. Jyou had taken Yamato under his wing, and was teaching him all kinds of first-aid skills, in case we'd need them on our travels.

The others didn't really know what to do with themselves.

After what felt like forever—but was really just a blink of an eye—it was time for us to leave.

We knew that the first few weeks of our escape, we would have to lay low and avoid people as much as possible. We packed enough food to last us those weeks, as well as bedrolls, clothes, fishing equipment, and other necessities. Yamato was carrying the first-aid kit, which he and Jyou had assembled.

Koushiro gave me a small telescope.

Sora gave Yamato her father's old harmonica (Yamato had proven himself quite musical the past week; something he had learned from the other entertainers at the Count's castle, apparently).

Mimi had spent the entire week baking goods, which Meiko had gone to sell at the market. They gave all the money they made to us.

Until we got far away enough, we couldn't work any jobs. We might be able to live off the land for a while, but eventually we would need money. Yamato and I had decided that we couldn't do what his father did and work as a travelling merchant; their names tended to spread—it was good publicity. No, we would just have to work odd jobs here and there. Do what we could, when we could.

The actual moment we left, long after the sun had set and long before it was coming back up again, was a blur of tears and faked smiles.

I didn't know what to say to Yamato. I didn't even know what to think about the whole situation; it had all been so confusing and everything had seemed to happen so fast. I didn't know what to feel. Part of me was happy that I would get to spend so much time alone with Yamato, but part of me wanted to stay at home within the comfort of all I'd ever known.

Everything seemed unnaturally quiet as we walked through town.

Koushiro had mapped out the layout of the town. There were only a few gates that worked as exits, but those were out of the question, as they would most likely be guarded. Koushiro had chosen our exist point as one of the water inlets. These were located on the far side of town, where all the fields were.

Not a word had been said as we crossed town. We reached the first of the fields. Potatoes. The inlet was at the back of the third field. They grew beans there.

"Are you scared?" Yamato asked me, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

I wanted to lie, but: "Yes."

"Me too." He reached out and grabbed my hand with his. "Hold on to me so that we can run away."

The rest of our escape was a bit of a blur for me; we made it to the correct field and through the gap in the wall. Once past the wall, we broke into a run, and ran, and ran, and ran. We ran until our lungs were ready to burst. Even when we slowed to a walk, our pace was so fast it took us ages to regain our breath. I had developed a stitch in my side. I didn't know how Yamato was faring.

Yamato had not released my hand since we left, and it did not it seem he would be letting go any time soon. I wasn't really complaining, but our pace _was_ quite fast. Don't get me wrong; I wanted as far from the Count as possible, but Yamato seemed to want even further. I fully understood, but we hadn't even eaten yet.

The sun had climbed quite high into the sky by the time one of Yamato's legs gave out. I caught him before he hit the ground.

"Maybe we should stop for a bit…"

I didn't think he would take me up on that offer, but—to my surprise—he nodded.

We had come up to a river a short while ago, and had been following it. We settled down under a large tree close to said river.

"Do you think there are fish in that river?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking up from digging into my bag. "Fish? We brought food."

Yamato looked from the glistening river to me. "Yeah, but it will keep for a long time. We should save it for a time when we won't be able to get anything else."

"True." I agreed, starting to dig in another pocket, this time for the fishing hook and line we had packed. Yamato already had his out and was heading for the river.

Our catch was quite measly, but it would still save us a tin of food.

I kept a close eye on Yamato as we ate. He kept looking around discreetly, and starting at the smallest sounds. He fully jolted when I reached over to touch his hand.

"Yamato." Our eyes met; his slightly panicked, mine calming. "It'll be fine. We'll start moving again in a minute. We've already made good progress."

He nodded. There was no accompanying smile.

Moments later, we were back on our feet and moving along the river. I continued to keep an eye on Yamato, to make sure his legs were fine. I was surprised at how far he had managed to come; he probably hadn't had much of a chance to exercise at the castle. Not that he wasn't fit, but endurance-wise there probably hadn't been much on offer. Though, we _were_ running—walking—for our lives, so I guess the fear or adrenaline was playing a big part in our physical achievements.

-o-

"Yamato, we really should stop for the night."

"Just a bit longer."

"Yamato…"

Pleading blue eyes turned to me. "Please, Taichi, just a bit further; we need a more secluded place to stop."

I sighed, complying with his wishes.

A few minutes later, we came to a dense patch of forest, with low, thick bushes, and toweringly tall trees. We settled down here, under a thorny bush. I would probably wake up with millions of scratches…

The river had narrowed to a smaller stream a few hours ago, but we still made an effort to fish in it. It was a wasted effort, though, so we just settled for eating canned foods in relative darkness. Yamato had forbidden me from making a fire.

We started eating in silence, Yamato again jumping at the smallest sound. I was nervous about being caught, too, but this was getting ridiculous.

At Yamato's next twitch, I snapped. "Would you just sit still?!"

His eyes snapped to me, glistening in the near-darkness.

"Sorry." He mumbled, returning to his cold food.

We finished our dinner in uncomfortable silence. This time I was fidgeting.

We pulled out our bedrolls before it got too dark to see what we were doing. I crawled onto mine, hearing Yamato do the same about a metre from me.

"I'm sorry, Taichi."

Though I couldn't see much, I looked at him, surprised that he had been the first to speak. It had gotten even darker and, due to the dense forest we were in, what little light the quarter moon provided couldn't reach us.

"I know I'm annoying with my constant worrying and fear, but I can't help it. I've escaped so many times and been caught just as I got my hopes up. It's a horrible feeling, but this time it's worse: you'll be killed if we get caught."

My eyes couldn't find his in the darkness, but I tried searching for them anyway.

"I really couldn't live with myself if he killed you. I can't imagine how I'd feel or what I'd do if that happened."

"Yamato." I inched closer to him, reaching out, needing to touch any part of him that I could find. I found his hand reaching for mine.

"I'm sorry, but please understand."

I nodded, though he couldn't see me.

"I just can't lose you. You're the only good thing that's happened to me, ever, and I don't want to be the cause of your death. I'm already tearing you away from your friends, and feel bad enough about that. I can live with it, though, since we have each other, but if I lose you I'll have nothing. Now I also know that I can have a better life than just being a concubine, and I don't want to go back to that. I'm just so scared of being caught."

I let him talk his feelings out, not even knowing what I should say to him. I understood where his nervousness was coming from. I had known even before he said it, but it didn't actually occur to me. I had treated our escape as something that would work out without a hitch. In my mind, the danger was there, but it was like it couldn't affect us. It was slowly dawning on me that I was wrong.

There was nothing I could say or do other than squeeze his hand.

In the silence, I fell into a fitful sleep. The danger was pressing in, seemingly closer than before. I thought I kept hearing footsteps, though I don't know whether dreaming or awake. The smallest of sounds could mean 'game over' for us. It would mean both our deaths; my physical body's, his mind's. I didn't want the rest of his existence to consist of him being am empty shell. A sex doll.

I awoke at the crack of dawn, seeing Yamato's eyes fluttering open. He looked as tired as I felt, but we didn't have time to dwell on that. We packed our bedrolls, deciding to skip breakfast for the time being.

Again we were off.

-o-

By the time evening rolled around, Yamato and I had both calmed down considerably. We had passed a few towns already, meaning we were very far away from our old home. We hadn't run into anyone, so if the Count's guards were looking for us out this way, they wouldn't have any leads.

We had stopped briefly for brunch at a lake we had run into, and caught enough fish to last us until breakfast tomorrow. We had cooked them, to avoid having to make a fire.

I was feeling quite confident that we hadn't left any traces of our presence behind.

As we were settling onto our bedrolls, I threw a smile Yamato's way. He smiled back, looking away quickly, probably to hide the larger smile he was spouting, which I noticed anyway.

It was probably only an hour later that we both started at steady footsteps. This time I know that I hadn't dreamt it. I looked at Yamato through the darkness. It was cloudier than last night, but the clouds reflected more light, which made it easier to see. And I saw fear.

We both sat up, ears perked, listening for the footsteps that were getting closer.

Our chosen sleeping spot was more in the open than it had been last night. The forest wasn't as dense out this way. If someone wandered close enough, they could easily see us.

The heavy steps told me it was a man. Just one though. Had the guards split up? Would one be enough to catch us both?

The steps were getting closer. Closer still.

Yamato and I were holding our breath, willing the guard to walk past us.

A loud noise from the man made us jump, and Yamato had to physically cover his mouth with both hands, to stop himself from yelping. It had only been a sneeze.

The steps were moving away from us. Further still.

Only when we could no longer hear the footsteps did we let out our breaths. We looked at each other, panting from holding our breath and the fear-induced adrenaline.

We stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. Then Yamato moved his bedroll right next to mine. We wrapped our arms around each other the best we could, falling into a restful sleep.

-o-

We continued to avoid towns and people for a week. Eventually, though, we ran into other travellers. Most didn't ask questions. They didn't want to know our story; we didn't want to know theirs. We would just chat about mundane things with them, like the weather or where the best fishing spots were. It was nice to be interacting with other people again. Yamato was quite quiet for most of the time, but I could tell that even he enjoyed the friendly atmosphere.

From a lone traveller, we heard of a farm a few miles up the road that needed stablehands for a week or two. Thus, Yamato and I spent two weeks caring for five horses. The pay wasn't great, but the owner of the farm let us stay at his house and fed us, so it evened out in the end.

After that, we continued on our way, finally confident that the Count could no longer find us. We avoided giving anyone our names, or made up fake ones, whilst flitting from town to town.

-o-o-o-

The sound of Yamato's harmonica flitted around, as I lay on my bedroll. Yamato was sitting a bit further off, leaning against a tree trunk. We had chosen the edge of a field to settle down for the night. Yamato had long ago abandoned his need for sleeping under the protective cover of trees, bushes, or caves. He now seemed to choose open spaces, probably enjoying his newfound freedom.

The music stopped.

"Taichi?" Yamato asked me, staring up at the night sky.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking over at him from my lying position.

"How do you think everyone's doing?"

I paused to think about that for a moment. How were Sora and the others?

We had been on the run for about half a year now, though it was feeling more like an adventure than an escape. It was exciting to travel the world with Yamato at my side. We still had a ways to go before we'd even seen half of the world, but we were in no hurry; the Count was not old, so it would take a few decades yet for him to die of old age or some other ailment.

"I'm sure they're fine. The Count probably didn't bother them too much, after searching the house. We all lived in that town before we met you, and had no problems, so I'm sure they've gone back to how things were." I chuckled. "They probably have it easier now, since I'm not there to make a mess or cause trouble."

He chuckled, too, knowing through my stories what a troublemaker I'd been at home. I probably had too much energy to sit still. Moving around, as we currently were doing, seemed to suit me more than being cooped up in one place, even if I loved that place dearly.

Yamato stashed his harmonica into one of the pockets of his bag and joined me on the bedroll. He snuggled into my side, and I buried my face into his hair.

We had taken to sleeping together, one bedroll under us, the other could be used as a duvet, if needed. Yamato had been the one to suggest it two months into our travels. He said we would feel safer and be warmer. Of course, it also facilitated intercourse, but I had chosen not to comment on that at the time.

True to my word, I had waited for Yamato to be ready and actually want sex. When he asked me if we could do it, I hadn't agreed at first. When he pushed me down and attacked me, though, I relented. Not that I had initially wanted to refuse him, anyway.

-o-o-o-

We've been 'on the run' for four years now. As planned, we had done odd jobs here and there, sometimes selling the meat we caught on the way from one town to the next. Sometimes Yamato performed on the streets with his harmonica, and that earned us some extra coins.

It was during one of Yamato's performances that I heard news of the Count's death.

Whist Yamato was playing, I usually wandered around town, buying things we needed. I stopped at a spice stall, inspecting the spices on offer. That's when I heard two men behind me say my old hometown's name. I tuned into their conversation:

"Apparently, it was that travelling merchant, Hiroaki."

"But why would he do something like that? He's always been so nice, and, at the very least, he should know rumours like that are bad for business."

"Yeah, but it's also really bad for business to be double-crossed. That Count has cheated him before, and seems this time was the last straw."

The other man scoffed, starting to move away. "If that rich bastard was so cheap as to cheat someone with prices like Hiroaki's, then he deserves what he got."

"Yeah, I've heard other bad things about him, too. Like, there was this architect…"

I turned and ran towards the sound of Yamato's harmonica, intent on delivering Yamato the news as soon as possible. Though, once I got to the spot, I paused. How did I know it was the absolute truth? I looked around the small crowd that had gathered to listen to Yamato.

"Excuse me," I asked, turning to a middle-aged woman on my right. "Have you happened to hear rumours about a Count being killed?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yamato throw a curious glance my way. He didn't pause in his playing, but kept his eye on me as I listened to the woman gossip.

I thanked the woman as Yamato finished his piece, and clapped with the others. Yamato thanked the crowd, gathering the last of their offerings.

He walked over to me and I grabbed his arm, pulling him into a narrow alleyway. We stood there, facing each other. I got a weird sense of déjà vu, remembering our second encounter in the alley.

"Well?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"He's dead." I blurted out.

Yamato blinked at me, clearly not sure whom I meant—not that I blamed him.

"The Count." I clarified, and his eyes widened, mouth agape. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, before adding: "We can go back, now."

His shocked appearance fell back and he eyed me carefully, before his face split into a wide grin.

"Why, though? We're young and we have the rest of the world to see!" His eyes were alight with joy. "We'll send them a letter. Tell them that we're fine, but continuing our travelling. I want to see more and spend more time with you. I want to keep travelling. I mean, we can go back, too, if you want to…"

I was overjoyed. Truthfully, I hadn't wanted to go back just yet. I loved travelling the world with Yamato at my side, and I didn't want it to end just yet.

My grin was the only reply he needed. He reached out, our hands meeting each others in the middle. I was really looking forward to the beginning of our new journey together.

-o-o-o-o-o-


End file.
